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APAC’s PC market showed some brief signs of recovery in Q3 but currency fluctuations and fuel price rises contributed to a disappointing 12 per cent year-on-year decline in shipments, according to IDC.

The market watcher recorded a small increase in shipments of two per cent from the previous quarter to reach 27.8 million units, but this wasn’t enough to meet the analyst’s forecast of a percentage point higher.

Dell and HP were among the strongest performers. The former saw its market share grow two per cent over the past quarter to 10 per cent on the back of strong recovery in China, while HP nudged its share to 11.6 per cent thanks in part to a large education notebook order in India.

However, although a pick-up in consumer spending helped China record a small increase in shipments, the good work was undone by declines in some big south-east Asian markets and continued weakness in more mature markets, IDC said.

Spending confidence went down temporarily in some markets after fuel price hikes, according to report author Andi Handoko.

“Indonesia is the most significant case last quarter where the fuel price hike was in addition to the already high basic necessities price during Ramadhan and currency volatility,” he told The Reg.

“On the latter, Indonesia is among the worst affected as import costs are still mainly in US Dollars, forcing local PC vendors to make adjustments to their pricing.”

Handoko claimed that innovation in PC form factors “emphasising duality and flexibility” could help to arrest the decline in a region that once drove global demand for PCs.

“It's unlikely to be specific products that could potentially stem the slowness in PC market, but more in the innovation of the technology that could prompt customers into thinking, ‘It's a good time to buy/replace my PC’,” he said. ®